Give Me Fever (7 page)

He looked up at her questioningly, kind of squinting his face like he was trying to focus his vision via his glasses. Jade immediately thought of Steve Urkel, Robert Johnson, Bill Gates, and Napoleon Dynamite like a slideshow.

All of her silly notions of wanting to jump Kaeden Strong’s bones disappeared…just…like…that.

“Yes, Jade.”

“Huh?” she said.

He smiled and reached for another s’more from the plate. “Thanks,” he told her.

“No, Kaeden, thank
you
,” she stressed with a smile.

He looked confused, but it didn’t matter because Jade
wasn’t
confused any longer.

“Do you remember the time Kaeden tried to cut his own hair and took a chunk out of his hairline big as an apple?” Kaleb asked, reaching over to muss Kaeden’s head.

“Oh no!” Jade cried out before she laughed.

Kael chuckled as he slapped his knee with one of his beefy hands. “His mama wanted to punish him by sending him to school just like that.” He looked over at his son. “But I couldn’t do it to you, son, so I shaved you bald.”

“I don’t know if I should thank you or not,” Kaeden drawled in his resonant voice.

The men all laughed and Jade tried hard to hold her laughter in with her hand to her mouth as she looked at Kaeden with sympathetic eyes. “How old were you?”

“Twelve,” the men all said in unison.

Kaeden dropped his head into his hands.

“That was about all the mischief Kaeden brought me and my wife.” Kael reminisced with a twinkle in his eyes. “He was usually stuck up under his mother in the house while these other pranksters roamed the farm and found any and everything to get into.”

“I have severe allergies,” he insisted in explanation.

Kade nodded and he leaned forward to brace his elbows on his knees. “That’s very true. I must admit I’m surprised we haven’t had a Kaeden during this trip…yet.”

“A Kaeden?” Jade asked, more than curious.

Kaeden groaned and shook his head, wishing his family could reminisce on something or someone else besides him.

Kahron stretched his long, jean-clad legs out before him. “That’s a medical emergency involving insects.”

“There was the bee sting in 1986.”

“The red ant bite in 1992.”

“The wasp incident in 2001.”

“Oh, and the poison ivy in 2006.”

Kaeden winced at each of his brothers adding fuel to the fire. How could he have forgotten the poison ivy he tripped and fell in when he accompanied his brothers and sister on a foolish horse race one Sunday afternoon after church? “Since we’re strolling down memory lane, Kahron, why don’t you tell Jade about the time you set the whole west field of the farm on fire.”

“Whoo-oo-eee. Now that was one helluva whupping,” Kahron admitted.

Jade smiled brightly as she eyed them all. “I wish I grew up in a large family,” she told them.

“You’re an only child?” Kaeden asked, feeling completely mesmerized by the sight of Jade’s warm smile.

“Unfortunately. You all are
so
lucky.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Kaeden muttered darkly.

She just smiled at him and reached over to reassuringly squeeze his hand quickly.

Jade was very touchy-feely and Kaeden liked it—even if her innocent touches did arouse him.
Just do it. Just ask her out
, he thought.
Step up to the plate.

“I haven’t seen your mama since your parents’ divorce,” Kael said.

“She’s fine. She lives in Summerville, but she’s hardly ever home since she’s a flight attendant.”

Kaeden found himself staring at Jade’s profile and forced himself to look away.
What do I say to her? How do I ask?

“You look exactly like your mother,” Kael told her.

“There’s another one of you running around?” Kaleb asked. “What flight is she on?”

Kaeden eyed Kaleb thinking he would cross the line, but thankfully no further jokes came from his lips.

“Well, fellas, this has been a long day,” Jade said, rising to her feet in her lemon sweatsuit. “I am going to leave y’all to this and turn in.”

Jade stretched and Kaeden allowed his eyes to follow the curvy lines of her body.
She hasn’t shown me any inclination that she likes me. Why would I put myself out there to be rejected?

The look of pure horror on Lisha Strong’s face was priceless and her daughter captured it for all eternity on her iPhone.

“There is no way I am putting
that
on,” Lisha said, her hand to her chest as she eyed the bright yellow and very sheer catsuit Bianca held up in her hands. “Who would?”

Garcelle bit back a smile. “I have one in every color,” she admitted before she bit her bottom lip to keep from giggling. “And trust me, Mama Strong, it was worth every red
centavo.
”

Lisha raised a brow.

“Mama, this is the first time you and Daddy have been apart in ages, and I think you should spice it up for him when he gets back tomorrow night,” Kaitlyn advised as she reached for another sheer entrapment in Frederick’s of Hollywood. “How about this?”

“Be adventurous, Mama Strong,” Bianca advised with a soft smile as her diamond hoop earrings glistened from her ears.

Lisha eyed the three of them. “Ladies, please get from underneath my husband and my clothes.”

The three younger women just laughed before walking back to the rear of the store. Lisha side-eyed her companions as she reached inside her Coach purse. She turned to the young saleswoman. “Have the black one in a large sent to Lisha Strong at 1001 Cougar Lane…and keep the change,” she said, easing the hundred-dollar bill from her purse and into the saleswoman’s hand.

“Right away, Mrs. Strong.”

Lisha closed her purse and made her way to the back to join her daughters.
Humph, they don’t need to be all up in me and Kael’s business
, she thought with a sly smile.
Like they really need to teach me something. Chile, please.

Jade sighed as she dropped her used bath wipes into a Ziploc. The premoistened cloths were as thick and large as washcloths and Jade used enough to cleanse her entire body. It was a great alternative to a shower since they were too far from the public shower to walk to it. Use of any soap near any water source in the state parks was not allowed. She supplied the men with some bath wipes as well until they hiked farther along the trail toward the state campground where the showers were located. She couldn’t lie and say she wasn’t ready to slip into her tub, sip some white sangria, and just zone out.

Bzzzzzzzzz.

Jade stuck the folded Ziploc into her backpack to dispose of later and picked up her silver cell phone. She flipped it open. A picture of Darren rock climbing flashed on the screen. She answered the call. “Hey, partner,” she greeted him.

“Hey, beautiful,” he replied. “How’s the trip going?”

“It’s going great,” she told him, pressing her phone between her shoulder and ear to quickly finish dressing in jeans and another long-sleeved fitted tee. “Weather’s nice. Trail is clear. Fish are biting. No worries.”

“No injuries?” he asked.

Jade unzipped her tent and her eyes fell directly on Kaeden slowly walking from his tent to the picnic table. “Not yet,” she said, saying a silent thanks to the Great One above as she eyed Kaeden wince as he sat down on the wooden bench. “How’s your trip?”

“Everything is cool here too.”

“Good,” she told him, switching the cell phone to her other hand.

“I miss you.”

Jade paused at his sudden words. “Awwww. Thanks,” she said, deliberately trying to keep the mood light.

“I know you like to chill out after a tour, but I really want to see you Sunday night,” he said.

Jade opened her mouth to decline.

“We could just hang out at your place and watch a movie,” he said quickly, as if he knew her refusal was coming.

Jade knew that once she agreed to starting a relationship with Darren, it meant opening some of her life up to him. Spending time. Going on dates. Compromising when there were things she wasn’t inclined to do…

“Uh-hmmm. Okay,” she agreed reluctantly.

“Good.”

“I better get going, Darren,” she said. “I’ll call you Sunday night when I get in.”

“Okay, be safe, baby.”

Jade massaged her eyebrows at the tension building there. “Okay, you too, Darren. Bye.”

She snapped the phone closed. When her awareness of Kaeden was weirding her out, Jade had considered giving Darren a little bit of her sweetness.
Thank God, I didn’t.
She wasn’t ready for that yet. Intimacy was huge. It was not a step that she took lightly.

Her eyes fell on Kaeden again and it was hard not to notice that he was feeling some terrible muscle ache.
Sleeping on the ground is tearing Mr. White Collar up
, Jade thought with a shake of her head.

She thanked God for clarity because there was no way a man like Kaeden Strong could
ever
be her type.

Kaeden felt like he’d slept on a cement slab. Wincing, he felt sharp muscle spasms radiate from his shoulders to the top of his square buttocks as he sat down on the picnic bench. “Just one more night. One more night,” he promised himself as he reached up to massage his shoulder.

“I’m going to start charging you.”

Kaeden looked over his shoulder at Jade standing beside him holding out a small lotion bottle. “Don’t tell me. This is another one of your grandfather’s home remedies?”

Jade nodded as she sat the bottle on the table. “Better than IcyHot and a bottle of Aleve combined.”

Kaeden picked the bottle up. “Any instructions?” he asked, with humor in his deep voice.

“Just rub it on where it hurts, Kaeden,” she drawled dryly.

He laughed. “Thanks, Jade.”

She gave him a genuine smile. “You’re welcome,” she said before walking away.

“Listen, I think I’m going to cut out of the fishing today,” he announced, rising to his feet.

Kael paused in adding weights to his fishing line to look over at him. “You sure, son?” he asked.

Kaeden nodded. “I’m positive.”

Not even the opportunity to be around Jade all day was going to make him sit by the bank all day waiting on a fish to bite a hook.
I’m not getting anywhere with Jade anyway.

Jade frowned. “What are you going to do all day?” she asked, sounding slightly irritated.

“Read,” he answered simply as he lifted his hands to readjust his spectacles.

Jade massaged her temples.

That move didn’t surprise Kaeden one bit. “I’ll be fine,” he assured his father before slowly rising to his feet and pushing the bottle Jade gave him into the back pocket of his jeans. “I might even have Felecia e-mail me some stuff to work on.”

“He’ll be fine,” Kahron said, slipping his shades into place before he picked up his tackle box.

Jade gave him a long look that made him frown and shift his feet in the spot where he stood, before she turned and headed up the small, rocky incline to the trail. “Let’s move it out, boys,” she yelled over her shoulder.

“We’ll be back,” Kael said before he turned and followed Kaleb, Kahron, and Kade onto the trail.

Kaeden watched them until they disappeared down the trail, their forms covered by the overgrowth of trees and bushes. He considered putting on the ointment Jade gave him but knew the spot where he ached was hard for him to reach himself.

He settled into his camp chair glad that they had left the campfire lit to help ward off the insects and spent the next two hours reading his book. But in those two hours he came to a satisfying end of the mystery, and that left him with nothing to do…and he tried some of everything.

He sprayed on more insect repellant.

He tried his best to kill every ant in an anthill with insect spray.

He fixed himself another s’more that tasted more burned than tasty.

He kicked rocks.

He did anything and everything to occupy his time.

Nothing held his interest.

Kaeden was a tech junkie. He loved gadgets. Gadgets that needed electricity or at least Wi-Fi.

He was watching a bird of bright blue color swoop in and out of the tree branches when Jade’s words floated to the forefront of his memory:
There’s some really beautiful and interesting wildflowers just a little bit deeper into the woods going toward the north
…

Kaeden shrugged. “Why not?” he told himself, thinking it wouldn’t hurt to try and he could get some really great pictures with his digital camera. “If it’s so far that I can’t see the camp, then I’ll turn around.”

Kaeden pushed aside any reservations he had as he took the small incline up to the trail and then walked across it. There was a noticeable break in the trees with a thin footpath. He forged ahead, pausing when he caught sight of a beautiful waterfall in the distance. He lifted his camera and zoomed in for a shot. It wasn’t very large, but the sight of the crystal-clear water falling over the side was soothing. He shifted a bit from the path and moved toward it, his curiosity more piqued than any apprehension over being in the midst of a wooded area.

Who knew that snuggled among the dense trees was such a beautiful sight? “That would make a nice postcard,” he said aloud to himself, before he stood still and listened to the sound of running water. His state-of-the-art sound machine with the nature sounds couldn’t even compete.

Kaeden allowed himself a few more moments of surprising peace in the outdoors before he turned to make his way back. He frowned. He turned in a full circle. His frown deepened. “What the hell?” he asked, his deep voice sounding out of place among the serenity.

He had no clue where he was.
Everything
looked alike. “Shit,” he swore, reaching in the front pocket of his jeans for his cell phone. His grip tightened until he was sure he would snap the BlackBerry in half. No signal.

“I should slap my damn self,” he muttered, fighting the urge to fling his BlackBerry and camera into the stream in frustration. “What in the hell was I thinking? Seriously. What was I thinking?”

Taking a deep breath, Kaeden walked a straight line to the edge of the trees, hoping it would lead him back to that footpath. It didn’t.

“My destination is the camp. To hell with those wildflowers.”

After nearly twenty minutes the brush and the trees thickened until he had to use his arms to clear a path before him. He was sweaty and dusty and beyond aggravated. He stopped where he stood and turned, trying to assess whether he should head back the way he came or forge ahead. He turned again, looking for any sign that he was nearing a break in the trees. Suddenly he felt the earth move from underneath him, and Kaeden couldn’t help the holler he released as he dropped down a few feet, hitting the ground hard with an “umph” before he felt every rock, twig, and every other imaginable thing on the ground against his frame as he tried to stop himself from rolling.